Art Crawl: Meryl Smith

RECENTLY: A bunch of her stunning rat sculptures were featured in
I'm Here, a short film by Spike Jonze.

DOWN TO THE WIRE: The native New Yorker was introduced to wire mesh about 12 years
ago. "Since then, most of my ideas felt best expressed three dimensionally."

THE RESULT: There's a mischievous playfulness to her work, but it tends to come
with an eerie dose of gravitas -- like her sculpture "Excessory Baggage," which is a
cross between a small dog and a Louis Vuitton handbag.